Transparency
a strategy for self-sustainability
More self-sustainability means having more autonomy and less reliance on external funding, expertise or decisions. It means having a larger capacity to choose and negotiate with other initiatives what’s best for your project and what’s not. It means an increasingly equitable participation, which will lead to development models that are more comprehensive and relevant for all, that is, more sustainable. Know more
Several development projects increase their self-sustainability by being more transparent in their objectives and work processes, as well as in their results and their resource management and allocation.
Lack of transparency can affect the self-sustainability of development initiatives because sometimes potential donors, volunteers or beneficiaries fear corruption, politicization or lack of capacity to carry out projects. This makes it more difficult for initiatives to get support, which leads to more dependence on the criteria and interests of the few sources of support they actually manage to get.
This is why many projects have decided to increase their transparency by clearly stating what their projects are about, how resources are used and how profits are distributed. Transparency can attract donations and other support from within and from outside the initiatives and can also improve communication and negotiations with collaborators.
Transparency also helps many initiatives pinpoint potential obstacles or opportunities to their self-sustainability and take steps to tackle anything that might hinder it.
To increase their transparency, some initiatives promote local engagement and decentralize the management of their projects because the proximity and vigilance of participants leads to better resource management and allocation and makes the initiative more trustworthy in the eyes of potential donors and volunteers. Other projects invite external auditors. And some decide to make not only the management of their funds transparent, but all their processes as well –which is why they systematize their work model carefully so that it is clear what their objectives and priorities are, what the role and responsibility of each person is, how work is carried out, how decisions are made, etc. This makes interventions more effective, which often means resources are put to better use. Some other initiatives use social media to make their impact and procedures clear to the different participants and attract the interest of future collaborators.
Actually, there are many different ways to increase the transparency of a development project in order to make it more self-sustainable. Take a look at how these initiatives have done it!
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